Good morning from Iowa Capital Dispatch.
“It wasn’t that long ago politicians were fighting to bring data centers to their communities. Now these facilities are completely controversial, and many people don’t want them in their neighborhood. So public opinion has changed very rapidly on this issue.” — Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology, on the rise of data centers as a central campaign issue.
Republican Zach Lahn and Democratic state Auditor Rob Sand are competing in the Nov. 3, 2026 election to become Iowa’s next governor. (Candidate photos by Zach Sommers for Iowa Capital Dispatch, Iowa Capitol photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
In the race for Iowa governor, Democrat Rob Sand and Republican Zach Lahn agree addressing high cancer rates and making life more affordable for Iowans are their top priorities if elected Nov. 3, 2026 — but the candidates shared different opinions on how to tackle these problems.
Iowa Capital Dispatch sat down with the two candidates to speak about why they joined the race and what they hope to accomplish if elected.
Vicki Wanamaker, left, and Cathy Mager, right, talked in Wanamaker’s Springdale, Pennsylvania, home on Oct. 19, 2026, about their opposition to a proposed hyperscale data center roughly a quarter mile away. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
Both Democratic and Republican candidates during the heated midterm election cycle have had to navigate deep voter resentment of the massive advanced computer server farm developments that will power artificial intelligence.
There are 1,394 data centers already operating around the United States, and 2,841 more data centers are planned as of October.
A Carlisle couple is suing the federal government over delays in processing the immigration papers for people married to American citizens.
A Venezuelan citizen held by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement in the Muscatine County Jail for almost six months is taking the federal government to court over the matter.
The U.S. Department of Justice is stepping up its legal campaign over the midterm elections, suing Alaska over its U.S. Senate election and appealing a lawsuit against suspected noncitizen voters in California.
Fewer than 5% of U.S. House races are seen by a top political analysis as truly competitive heading into November’s midterm elections, giving relatively few voters the ability to determine which party controls the chamber for the next two years.
After a sometimes-bitter primary season, shared policy goals on affordability for Americans and accountability for the Trump administration have bonded the party’s left wing and its establishment factions, analysts say.
The current Trump administration claims its mass deportation efforts have expelled nearly a million people through July of this year, but those include both voluntary returns and people turned around at the border, according to a new analysis by the former chief statistician for the Department of Homeland Security, Stateline reports.
COMMENTARY
Podcast fodder this week includes the first of two Iowa visits by President Donald Trump and whether it matters for voter turnout. Plus, the Iowa 1st Congressional District debate, tight U.S. House races, record fundraising in the governor’s race and early voting in person versus by mail.
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